Open Letter to Husbands

source: Graves' Disease & Thyroid Foundation

authors: David Bos

Dear Husband of Graves’, This letter is to all of us who are or were married to someone with Graves’ disease. It is a letter from my heart as I know of no other way to talk about it. If in some way it speaks to those of you who are now struggling or have struggled with the loneliness, the frustration at the lack of answers, the inability to help the ones you love, having to make major decisions without your partner, or going through the pain of divorce because of a disease very few understand and fewer still can relate to, then it will have been worth exhuming painful memories that time was mercifully putting to rest.

I’ve heard that the divorce rate skyrockets when someone has Graves’ disease. I am not surprised. This disease works to challenge every reason you had for being married and forces you insidiously to get to the bottom line – that a marriage exists only because you are willing to remain committed to your partner, regardless of anything else.